


A Fighting Chance

by Tom_mcu_holland



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Death, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Peter Parker Has Anxiety, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Slow Burn, Teen Peter Parker, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-06-25 23:36:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15651252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tom_mcu_holland/pseuds/Tom_mcu_holland
Summary: Graduation was something Peter Parker always looked forward to, but life always has a funny way of putting things into perspective.





	1. Flash

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fan-fiction I've ever written, so I'm going to apologize in advance if this isn't the best. I'm still not sure of the plot, so the summary and tags might be a bit off until I know exactly what's going to happen, but I hope you enjoy!

Finals were right around the corner and Peter was drawing a close on his senior year of high school. He decided to take a break from studying for his AP calculus exam and walked out of the library to meet his friend over at his locker. Of course, to his dismay, Flash was standing right outside of the library’s door. Peter couldn’t wait for these last two weeks to be over, so he never had to see that douche bag again. He tried to walk the opposite way of where he was standing to avoid any conflict, but that would’ve been too easy.

“What’s up Penis Parker!” Flash howled across the hallway.

Peter flinched at the words, but he tried to act like he wasn’t bothered by them. He saw the heads of his classmates turn towards him as they placed their book in their lockers. These two weeks couldn’t go by any slower. He picked up his pace, but he could hear Flash’s footsteps as they sped towards him. He just wanted to get to Ned’s locker without getting beat up for once.

“Hey, I was talking to you. You should be smart enough to know by now to not ignore me when I say something,” Flash snarled.

Peter put his hood over his head, looked down at the ground, and kept walking. It took every ounce of self control he had to not turned around and beat his ass down to the ground. Only Ned knew that he was Spiderman and he couldn’t risk his secret coming out now, not with graduation right around the corner. He was only a couple feet from Ned’s locker when a hand pulled his shoulder back.

“Hey! What did I just say to you bitch?!” Flash shouted.

Everyone looked up from their lockers once again, anticipating a fight. Peter finally looked Flash in the eyes. The boy was only a couple inches taller than him and he wasn’t even that intimidating. Peter never understood why everyone worshiped him, he wasn’t even that good at football. He felt everyone’s eyes laying on them as the tension thickened. It didn’t help that Peter never really fit in. He was the nerdy kid who would rather read about physics than get wasted at a party.

“Just leave me alone Flash,” Peter said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Peter turned around, ultimately ignoring Flash to address Ned, who happened to have a worried look in his eye. Before he could say anything, a hand pulled Peter’s shoulder back once again and his spidey senses warned him of the hand closing in on his jaw.

Being Spiderman had its perks. He could’ve easily stopped the fist from hitting his face, but it also its disadvantages. He’s been dealing with Flash since the eighth grade. He wasn’t able to defend himself then, so he shouldn’t be able to now. Every since he gained his powers, he told himself that he wouldn’t use them against someone without a fighting chance and Flash happened to fall right into that category. So he just let it happen.

A strong force caused his head to hit the cinderblock wall behind him. He’s taken worse punches, but this was different. He could hear some people gasp, while others were cheering Flash on. Everyone was watching and Peter couldn’t do anything about it without giving away his secret. He fell to the ground and cupped his throbbing jaw. Before he could get up, Flash kicked his gut multiple times, causing him to lay on the ground clutching his stomach. His heightened senses caused hits to hurt more, but his healing factor made the pain barely last.

“It’s too bad your buddy Spiderman never taught you how to fight back. Oh wait, that was just a lie you attention whore,” Flash snorted.

“He does know Spiderman you dick!” Ned defended.

“Yeah, sure he does. He knows Spiderman just as well I know Black Widow,” Flash commented sarcastically.

Peter sat back up, still feeling the effects of Flash’s hits. Everyone’s eyes were on him. Some were laughing, while others felt his pain, but no one offered to help.

“Next time, listen to me and maybe I won’t punch as hard dumbass,” Flash snarked.

Flash walked away while high fiving and taking the praise from his friends. There were only a few of them and Peter never cared to learn their names. All they did was follow Flash around like puppies. The rest of the crowd left and headed to their next classes, not wanting to be late.

Ned quickly helped Peter up, asking if he was okay. Shaking it off, he just walked to his next class.

The final bell of the day rang and Peter couldn’t wait to get out. He ran to his locker and quickly grabbed his belongings. He sprinted out the door, ignoring all the eyes that stared at him. He just wanted to get away from this hell hole. As he made his way towards the subway, the days events replayed in his head. He hated that he couldn’t do anything to defend himself. The thought of facing Flash the next day made his stomach rench. He felt tears form under his eyes, but he refused to let them fall. He was stronger than this, but sometimes he couldn’t help it. He was angry and upset and he just wanted to be done with school.

He always went to Delmar’s Deli after school, but he couldn’t even bring himself to do that. He just wanted to get home as soon as possible so he could put on his suit and take his anger out on the thieves and criminals of Queens.


	2. Is That Tony Stark?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter Parker was about to go patrol after a long day of school, but someone knocked at the door before he could leave. Nobody ever came to the apartment and it definitely wasn't Ned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going to be a bit slow. It's more of introducing characters to themselves. I'm sorry if it's a bit boring, but it should pick up in the next chapter or two.

Peter made his way up the stairs to his tiny two bedroom apartment that he shared with his aunt. Ever since Uncle Ben died, money had been tight, but they refused to move out. It had been years since his death, but the humble apartment was one of the few remaining things of Ben’s that they still had.

Peter’s hand fumbled through his pocket until he found his keys. May wouldn’t be home for another couple of hours. Her shifts were always long, but she didn’t mind working hard if it meant that she could support her nephew and keep the apartment.

He opened the door and made his way to his cluttered room. Between homework, studying for finals, and patrolling, tidiness was never his top priority. As he threw his backpack on the ground and rushed to get his suit on, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. An angry bruise outlined his swollen jaw. Not to mention the countless contusions and scabs across his stomach that showed exactly where Flash had kicked him. As his eyes studied the marks that the other boy had left, there was a knock at the door. Startled, Peter quickly redressed himself and hid his suit in his backpack. People rarely came to the apartment, especially since Aunt May and Peter barely had enough time for themselves.

Peter rushed to the door as the person knocked a second time. He really was not in the mood for dealing with whoever was on the other side. All he knew was that it wasn’t Ned because he would’ve texted him first before he came over. He didn’t even bother to peer through the peephole before he thought about opening the door since he didn’t really care who it was. The faster he opened it, the faster the conversation with whoever it might be would be over, and that meant he could go out and blow off some steam sooner. He reached for the door knob as the person knocked a third time, sounding more desperate. Whoever this person was, he was getting on Peter’s nerves before he even opened the goddamn door. He pulled the door open and he was cut off before he even had the chance to open his mouth.

“Hey, Kid. Mind if I come in?” The man asked, pushing his way past Peter before he even had a chance to respond.

Peter was confused as hell. Was that Tony Stark? _The_ Tony Stark? What was he doing here? How did he find the apartment? Why was he in the apartment? Was he here for Aunt May or for him? Peter’s mind was racing a million miles a minute.

Tony must have saw the look of confusion and shocked on Peter’s face. “Yes, I’m Tony Stark and no, you can’t ask any questions yet. I assume you’re Peter Parker?”

“Yea I’m… I mean yes, sir,” Peter quickly corrected himself after clearing his throat.

“Good. Anyone home?”

  
“No, sir.” Peter said confused. It was an odd question on his part.

“Okay, so you must be the Spider-boy? Spiderling?”

Peter was shocked about how blunt the man really was. How did he even find out? He stood there for a couple of seconds asking himself so many questions, wondering if he should just come clean. Only Ned knew about his secret identity and what would even happen if someone like Tony Stark knew? His thoughts were cut off by Tony snapping his fingers in his face.

“Hey, Kid. I needed an answer like yesterday,” Tony said sarcastically.

“No, I’m not...,” Peter cut himself off momentarily. He took a deep breath with his eyes closed and realized that lying would get him nowhere.

“Yes, I’m uhh… I’m the SpiderMan.”

Peter hated the way he sounded. His voice trailed off and it was higher than he wanted it to be. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment as his idol stood over him in his own apartment. Tony was amused by the teen’s shyness. He couldn’t believe this was the same person he saw in the YouTube videos. The person in the videos seemed older, cockier, and here he was standing in front of the awkwardly shy teen.

Tony started to closely examine the individual. The kid still seemed shocked at his presence even though he was staring at the ground, fiddling with his hoodie strings. This kid was a lot younger than he thought. Peter glanced up to see if he was going to say anything and that’s when Tony really saw how bad the bruise on his jaw was. Even with the swollen jaw, the kid looked adorable, but Tony pushed those thoughts aside, not entirely sure why he would even think that.

“With a bruise like that, something tells me that your suit isn’t very adequate,” Tony commented.

The kid looked as if he was going to inject, but he was cut off by Tony pulling out his phone. He projected a video of Peter stopping a bus with his bare hands. He zoomed in on the suit and chuckled a little bit.

“That’s more like a onesie than a suit,” Tony mummled.

“It’s not a onesie, sir and the bruise isn’t from me being Spiderman,” Peter interjected.

Tony just shot Peter a look and stood up. He started walking towards what looked like Peter’s bedroom.

“Mr. Stark,” Peter said trying to rush in front of him so he couldn’t go into his room.

Peter managed to get ahead of Tony and shut his bedroom door quickly. He didn’t want him to see his countless Ironman posters and action figures. Despite being 17, almost 18, he never thought he was too old for them, until now.

“Nice try kid, now open up.”

Tony pushed past him, regardless of Peter being hesitant and opened his bedroom door. He stepped in and examined the room. It was smaller than he expected. There was a tiny loft bed pushed up against the wall, a desk cluttered with textbooks and a severely outdated computer placed in the other corner, a shelf full of action figures, and there was even some Ironman posters. Tony was amused by the teen’s room. Once he was done analyzing his room, he looked for Peter’s so called “suit”.

“Suit. Where is it?” Tony asked bluntly.

Without hesitating, Peter awkwardly reached for his backpack over in the corner. He slowly unzipped it and pulled his suit out. Tony let out a soft chuckle as he looked at the red and blue sweats the kid had just presented him with. The chuckled didn’t go unnoticed by Peter, who was trying so hard to hide his blushing cheeks.

“Your backpack? Is that the best hiding spot you could think of?” Tony snarked.

“Not that it matters, but I was actually getting ready to go out and then you knocked, so I had to get undressed and hide it quickly, sir,” Peter explained.

Tony ignored the comment and continued to examine the suit. He held the googles up to his eyes and snickered to himself.

“Jeez kid. Can you even see out of these?”

“I can, okay!” Peter said defensively as he grabbed the suit from him.

Peter hated the fact that he called him “kid” every other sentence. He might’ve only been 17, but he could stop a 3,000 pound car with his bare hands.

“You’re in need of a dire upgrade. I need help figuring out how you make the web solution, but I can do the rest.”

“Mr. Stark, I’m fine with my suit. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“I doubt that,” Tony said as he stood up, fixing his suit.

Tony made his way through his bedroom door and back out into the living space. He seemed as if he got what he came for and was ready to leave. As he put his hand on the door knob, Peter shot a small amount of webbing at his hand, causing Tony to turn around to look at the teen.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Peter said firmly. He never imagined he’d use that tone with his childhood idol, but it had to be done.

“I won’t, but never web me again,” Tony said with that fake smile you always see him with on magazines and websites.

Peter quickly undid the webbing to allow Tony to leave. To his surprise, he quickly turned around and handed a tiny piece of paper to Peter.

“Almost forgot. Here’s my number. I’ll text you when the suit’s done. Don’t give that to anybody and definitely don’t call me unless it’s an emergency.”

Peter wasn’t able to say anything before Tony winked at him and left. He couldn't believe that Tony Stark, the CEO of Stark Industries, _Iron Man_ , was just in his apartment. It didn’t dawn on Peter exactly how attractive the man really was until he was gone, but he pushed that aside because those thoughts were ridiculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit longer than the last one, but I still want them to be wayyy longer. I'm sorry if this chapter was boring, but the plot should thicken in the next chapter or two. If you guys have any suggestions or comments about the previous or following chapters, please don't be afraid to put them down. Thank you!!


	3. Cars Can Cause Anxiety Too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took so long to upload. I've been going through a lot recently and I didn't have the motivation or time to write, hence why this chapter is short and honestly sucks. I'll try to make sure the next chapter is longer and actually has a decent plot.

Peter figured he could go out and patrol for a little while because May wouldn’t be back for another two hours. He still couldn’t shake the idea that Tony Stark was in his home less than ten minutes ago, but he was grateful for the encounter because it gave him a distraction from his horrible school life. Not to mention, he might be getting a new suit in the near future, designed by no other than the famous Tony Stark. The thought sent a shiver of excitement down his spine. 

 

Peter’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a loud crash that came from a couple streets over. It was unusual for his spidey senses to not warn him of potential danger, but he decided to check it out anway. As he swung from building to building, swinging as fast as he possibly could, his ears picked up the faint sounds of screaming. The faint cries for help had gotten louder as he approached the scene. Once it was in sight, Peter was taken back by what really happened. Out of the three years of being a friendly neighborhood Spider Man, he had never encountered a car crash quite like this. The vehicle that seemed to be carrying three people, if his calculations were correct, was overturned in the middle of the road. Still trying to figure out the severity of it, his heightened sense picked up the faint smell of gas. That couldn’t be good. 

 

Peter was frozen in shock for a couple of seconds. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears. It appeared to be two young adults in the front with a toddler in the back. The thought of the young child having to go through what he did when his parents died was enough to paralyze his body. This was the last thing he needed right now. Three innocent lives were in danger and his anxiety was preventing him from doing what he needed to do. His heart sped up as he broke out into a cold sweat, stomach churning. His breathing accelerated as his mind raced. Tears of panic started to form under his eyes and he couldn’t stop himself. With a hesitant motion, he broke his paralysis by shooting a web towards a pole right next to the car. He wasn’t in the right mindset to help these people, but he didn’t have a choice. The car was now engulfed in flames as screams started to revert his hearing. 

 

“No, no, no, no!” Peter shouted while tears stained his mask. If he wasn’t panicking, he would’ve already gotten everyone out of the car safely.  

 

Faint sirens could be heard in the distance, but they wouldn’t get here fast enough. Cars and bystanders were starting to crowd around the situation to watch in shock as their friendly neighborhood Spider Man worked frantically to get everyone inside to safety. The sirens were closing in as he got the child out first. His anxiety got worse as he realized the little girl was unconscious. With shaky hands, he searched for any signs of life, relieved when he could feel a faint pulse on her neck. Police arrived just in time for Peter to hand the toddler over to them.

 

“She’s unconscious, but she has a pulse. There’s two others stuck in the car,” Peter quickly explained. 

 

The fire was getting worse and time was running out for the other two people trapped in the car. Without hesitation, he ripped the passenger door off the car and tried to pry a man, who appeared to be the toddler’s father, out of the car. The fire was burning his suit and the heat made it harder to work. The father’s leg was stuck under the crushed dashboard and it didn’t help that he too was unconscious. 

 

The local firefighters arrived just in time to help their friendly neighborhood Spider-man pry the man out of the car. He was alive and breathing, to Peter’s relief, but his right leg was far beyond repair. There were gashes that exposed the bone and burns that claimed his skin. His thoughts were starting to race again, along with his heart, but he was quickly snapped out of his distracted state when the other two firemen pulled a lifeless women out of the drivers side of the car. Her body was covered from head to toe in burns, her legs covered in blood. The EMTs knew it was too late to try to resuscitate her.

 

Peter couldn’t help but feel the loss for both the child and husband. If he had acted sooner, he would’ve been able to save all three of them. The thought of the little girl having to be raised without a mother reminded him of his parents. It was his fault that they lost a loved one. His breath hitched as he felt the rise in panic settle throughout his body. He was too distracted to hear the screams of everyone around him screaming to move. His spidey sense had been going off the whole entire time, but he didn’t notice when they got more intense. 

 

Gasps and screams from the watching crowd suddenly went to silence as the car that was engulfed in flames blew up, right as Iron Man swooped in and swept Spider-man off his feet, saving him by merely milliseconds.

 

“Thank god I was keeping tabs on you kid, otherwise I don’t-” Tony was cut off as he felt the dead weight of the boy he was carrying. 

 

“Oh, Jesus fuck. Jarvis, can you get his vitals?” 

 

“His heart rate is elevated to 175 bpm due to an undiagnosed case of supra ventricular tachycardia. He seems to have passed out due to a severe anxiety attack. Anxiety can increase sensitivity to physical touch, but his sense are already heightened. It seems that when you picked him up sir, you sent his brain into overdrive, leading to prolonged syncope. ”

 

“Shit, call Banner and tell him to meet me at the New York tower. Tell him it’s an emergency.” 

 

“Will do sir.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know, supra ventricular tachycardia is a rapid heart beat that develops when the normal electrical impulses of the heart are disrupted. It is normally misdiagnosed as a panic disorder, but you can have both anxiety and SVT at the same time. Also, syncope is the fancy medical term for passing out.


	4. NOT A CHAPTER

Hey Guys!! I know it's been a while since I've updated, but a lot has been going on recently in my personal life. Thankfully things are starting to clear up and I'm going to get back into writing this. I went back and reread all the chapters and they're definitely not anywhere close to my best writing. I'm most likely going to restart this fic and take these chapters down. I have some new ideas I'd like to incorporate into the story, but I think the first two chapter are going to stay close to what they are now. If you have any ideas you want me to put in the story, don't be afraid to comment them. Sorry for the long wait, but things should be taking off from here.

Xoxo

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully the next chapter won't be as boring


End file.
